Students competed in the 6th edition of Sofia VIS Pre-Moot

Between 6^th and 8^th March 2020, the BCCI hosted the 6^th edition of the Sofia VIS Pre-Moot - a competition for students with focus on international commercial arbitration and international sale of goods. Sofia VIS Pre-Moot is a simulated arbitration process related to the implementation of the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). It is conducted in English and aims to allow the participating universities to prepare their teams for the 27^th Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna - the world’s largest moot court competition.

The sponsors of the event were the Association of Independent Wine Growers, the Bulgarian start-up company Colibra and the Bulgarian office of the Austrian law firm Schoenherr.

Traditionally, the competition was opened with a conference dedicated to actual problems of the international commercial arbitration. The conference started with a welcome speech by Mr. Blagovest Punev, Chairman of the Arbitration Court at the BCCI. The program continued with presentations on the following hot topics in international arbitration:

• Modification, adaption and specific performance remedies under Bulgarian law, presented by Mr. Alexander Katzarsky, Vice-Chairman of the Arbitration Court at the BCCI;
• Assymetrical, Hybrid and Multi-Tier Clauses under Bulgarian law and the AC at the BCCI practice, presented by Ms Ventzislava Zelyazkova, Member of the Presidium of the Arbitration Court at the BCCI;
• Assymetrical Clauses – examples and practice in ICC Arbitration, presented by Ms Vladi Hennessee, Deputy Counsel, ICC, Paris, France;
• Evidence in Arbitration vs. Litigation: a Comparison from Bulgarian Perspective, presented by Mr Anastas Punev, Partner at Punev & Stoimenov Law Firm;
• Damages & Loss of Profit - Arbitration vs Litigation, presented by Mr Deyan Dragueiv, Head of Legal Directorate, Attorney-at-law, Colibra; Assistant Editor for Europe, Kluwer Arbitration Blog.

This year Sofia Pre-Moot hosted 9 teams from leading universities in France, Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

BCCI provided 6 arbitration rooms and in total 42 rounds were conducted. The 6^th Sofia Vis Pre - Moot was closed by Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov, President of the BCCI.